AL-JAZIRA STATE, Sudan: Sudan recalled its ambassador from Nairobi Thursday in protest at Kenyan President William Ruto’s hosting of talks with paramilitary commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, its acting foreign minister said.
Dagalo, whose forces have been at war with the regular army led by Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan since April, has been touring African capitals on his first visit abroad of the conflict.
He already visited Uganda, Ethiopia and Djibouti as well as Kenya and is currently in South Africa, to the anger of Burhan, whose administration has lost ground to the paramilitaries in recent months and is eager to deny them international legitimacy.
In a statement carried by the official SUNA news agency, Sudan’s acting foreign minister Ali Al-Sadiq said the ambassador had been recalled “for consultations in protest of the official reception organized by the Kenyan government for the leader of the rebel militia.”
He said those consultations would “cover all possibilities for the outcome of Sudan’s relations with Kenya.”
Ties between Burhan and the Kenyan government have been strained for months, as Nairobi has sought to keep lines of communication open with Dagalo so it can mediate in the conflict.
In a January 1 address, the army chief warned that African governments hosting visits by “these killers” were “making themselves a partner in the murder of the Sudanese people.”
The war has killed more than 12,190 people, according to a conservative estimate from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, and forced more than seven million to flee their homes, according to UN figures.
Mediation efforts are largely at a standstill amid deep animosity between the rival generals.
Although Burhan’s administration continues to put out statements as the Sudanese government, Dagalo’s Rapid Support Forces control the streets of Khartoum as well as nearly all of Darfur and much of the central state of Al-Jazira, Sudan’s pre-war breadbasket.
Sudan recalls Kenya envoy over paramilitary chief visit
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Sudan recalls Kenya envoy over paramilitary chief visit
Palestinians attempt to use Gaza’s Rafah Border crossing amidst delays
- The Rafah Crossing opened to a few Palestinians in each direction last week, after Israel retrieved the body of the last hostage held in Gaza and several American officials visited Israel to press for the opening
CAIRO: Palestinians on both sides of the crossing between Gaza and Egypt, which opened last week for the first time since 2024, were making their way to the border on Sunday in hopes of crossing, one of the main requirements for the US-backed ceasefire. The opening comes as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to travel to Washington this week, though the major subject of discussion will be Iran, his office said.
The Rafah Crossing opened to a few Palestinians in each direction last week, after Israel retrieved the body of the last hostage held in Gaza and several American officials visited Israel to press for the opening. Over the first four days of the crossing’s opening, just 36 Palestinians requiring medical care were allowed to leave for Egypt, plus 62 companions, according to United Nations data.
Palestinian officials say nearly 20,000 people in Gaza are seeking to leave for medical care that they say is not available in the war-shattered territory. The few who have succeeded in crossing described delays and allegations of mistreatment by Israeli forces and other groups involved in the crossing, including and an Israeli-backed Palestinian armed group, Abu Shabab.
A group of Palestinian patients and wounded gathered Sunday morning in the courtyard of a Red Crescent hospital in Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis, before making their way to the Rafah crossing with Egypt for treatment abroad, family members told The Associated Press.
Amjad Abu Jedian, who was injured in the war, was scheduled to leave Gaza for medical treatment on the first day of the crossing’s reopening, but only five patients were allowed to travel that day, his mother, Raja Abu Jedian, said. Abu Jedian was shot by an Israeli sniper while he was building traditional bathrooms in the central Bureij refugee camp in July 2024, she said.
On Saturday, his family received a call from the World Health Organization notifying them that he is included in the group that will travel on Sunday, she said.
“We want them to take care of the patients (during their evacuation),” she said. “We want the Israeli military not to burden them.”
The Israeli defense branch that oversees the operation of the crossing did not immediately confirm the opening.
A group of Palestinians also arrived Sunday morning at the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing border to return to the Gaza Strip, Egypt’s state-run Al-Qahera News satellite television reported.
Palestinians who returned to Gaza in the first few days of the crossing’s operation described hours of delays and invasive searches by Israeli authorities and an Israeli-backed Palestinian armed group, Abu Shabab. A European Union mission and Palestinian officials run the border crossing, and Israel has its screening facility some distance away.
The crossing was reopened on Feb. 2 as part of a fragile ceasefire deal that stopped the war between Israel and Hamas. Amid confusion around the reopening, the Rafah crossing was closed Friday and Saturday.
The Rafah crossing, an essential lifeline for Palestinians in Gaza, was the only crossing not controlled by Israel prior to the war. Israel seized the Palestinian side of Rafah in May 2024, though traffic through the crossing was heavily restricted even before that.
Restrictions negotiated by Israeli, Egyptian, Palestinian and international officials meant that only 50 people would be allowed to return to Gaza each day and 50 medical patients — along with two companions for each — would be allowed to leave, but far fewer people than expected have crossed in both directions.
